"June?" Jay asked in surprise when he saw June all dressed up early in the morning. "Are you going somewhere?"
June nodded, placing his bag over his shoulder.
Akira shook his head when he saw one of the straps' seams already coming undone.
"Since when have you had this?" he asked, poking the black bag.
June glanced at his back and shrugged.
"I don't know," he said. "Probably when I was still a trainee."
June truly wasn't sure. This was one of the bags that the original body had, and June started using it as soon as he transmigrated into his body. He was gifted plenty of bags from different companies, but this bag was his favorite of all.
The sad part was that the brand had already rubbed off, so he didn't know where to buy it again. Therefore, he decided to just use it as it was. It was probably the best bag he had, even with his expensive collection!
"You're going to be rich with that mindset," Akira said, patting his back.
"Where are you going, though?" Jay asked, yawning since he still felt sleepy.
"To the filming site," June nonchalantly answered, causing Jay's eyes to widen in shock, the urge to sleep draining from his body.
"What?" he asked. "They don't have a schedule today based on what they've sent."
"They probably didn't send you anything anymore," June said. "But Hana told me," he smirked.
Jay sighed. "You should let the issue die down a bit before you go back. Besides, the directors aren't expecting you there; they'll be shocked once they see you."
"My career will die down if I don't do anything," June said, determined to go even if he was on his own.
"Besides," he smirked. "Let them be shocked. They're going to see something more shocking later."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Jay pursed his lips before swallowing the bread in his mouth.
"Fine," Jay sighed. "Wait for me. I'll go with you."
"You're not going to shower?" June asked.
"Are you going to wait for me?" Jay asked.
"Nope," June said.
"Then, I'm not," Jay answered. "Let's go. You don't want to be late, do you?."
June smiled since he knew that Jay would eventually cave in to his requests.
"I'll wait for you out here," Jay said as soon as they arrived at the filming site.
"I might take all day," June remarked.
"I know. I'll still be waiting."
June gratefully waved goodbye before going inside the filming site.
"What is he doing here?"
"Didn't he get kicked out of the production?"
"Hasn't the dating news been debunked yet?"
"Nope. His company hasn't said anything."
"Why did he come here then?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})As soon as he got there, he was greeted with questioning stares. Hana's eyes widened when she saw him, and she quickly stood and led him to the tent where the main actors stayed.
June glanced around and saw Taehyun, some older actors, as well as Lin Zhi inside. His eyebrows raised in inquiry as they stared at them like a tourist attraction.
"What are you doing here?" Hana asked in a hushed tone. However, it seemed like everybody could hear what she was saying.
"You sent me your schedule," June said.
Hana clicked her tongue. "I know. But I didn't expect you to come here while all this chaos is happening!"
"Why?" June asked. "Am I not welcome here anymore?"
Hana sighed. "You know that's not what I mean."
"I came here because I know I still deserve to be a part of the production," June said.
"You do," Hana said. "We're waiting for Director Jam's final decision, too. It just sucks that your company hasn't outright denied it yet."
"That's because they don't have any evidence to debunk the rumor," Lin Zhi said, interrupting their conversation.
Hana frowned as she turned around, only to meet the villain's cocky eyes.
"You're not part of this conversation," Hana said.
"And you're not part of this production anymore," Lin Zhi said, looking straight into June's eyes.
Lin Zhi internally rejoiced since he felt that he was very cool just now. He'll definitely write that one down!
The two of them stared at each other intensely, neither of them wanting to back down.
However, their stare-off was interrupted when Taehyun's chair scraped on the floor, making a loud noise. Then, he hurriedly walked over to where the three young actors were.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})While all of these were happening, the older actors and some of the staff watched the scene intently.
"That was your cousin?" Taehyun asked, causing June to break his eye contact with Lin Zhi.
"Cousin?" Hana also asked.
June tilted his head to the side in confusion. He thought that Minjun had finally posted about Director Bong's dirt; however, he must have posted about something else!
"How did you know?" June asked.
"It's trending on Navel right now," Taehyun said, proceeding to read the contents of the trending post.
"Hi, guys! I know I only post professional stuff out here, but I've been seeing my friend suffer for the past hours and decided to step in. The woman in the photo with June is his cousin, Jenny!"
"Wait, Jenny?" Hana asked with wide eyes, recalling the annoying girl who used to tease June a lot when they were trainees.
Taehyun continued reading the post while June and the others listened intently.
"I hope you understand that these rumors could ruin an idol's life, and it's not good to spread false information. Moreover, don't believe everything you see on the internet! Here's a photo of us with Jenny when we were younger!"
"Dang," Taehyun said. "So, it was all just a baseless rumor after all. Choi Pablo also backed up the post by showing the front aspect of the photo circulating around. You look quite disgusted in this photo," he chuckled.
June's eyebrows furrowed, not believing anything that was happening right now. None of these were a part of his plan, yet somehow, it was all going so well!
"Give me that," Lin Zhi said, snatching the phone from Taehyun's grasp.
His eyes widened, and his jaw became slack when he saw the receipts that the poster had pulled out to debunk June's dating news.
June, too, opened his phone and saw yet another flurry of follows and likes on his notifications. Then, he clicked on his trends list and finally saw the person who posted the said photo.
His eyes widened, similar to Lin Zhi's.
"Haruki?"